Alexus Tanielle Nelson, mother of a 5-year-old girl who was reported missing more than a year ago in Colorado (United States), has been sentenced to 84 years in prison after pleading guilty to several charges related to the case. The 28-year-old woman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, tampering with a corpse and attempting to influence a public official.
CBS News He explained that the sentence is broken down into 48 years for murdering the minor, 24 years for manipulating her remains and 12 years for trying to influence a public official. The sentence will be served consecutively.
People He pointed out that the remains of the girl Maha Li Hobbs were found in Nelson’s home in dawn after the child’s maternal grandmother called 911 from another state, reporting that her daughter had made troubling statements via text message and expressing fears about her granddaughter’s safety. These events occurred at the end of May 2023.
When the police arrived at the apartment Nelson in the 1000 block of South Elkhart Way, she claimed to have given her daughter up for adoption, but was unable to produce supporting documents.
Authorities could not independently verify the adoption through state records. The grandmother called 911 again two days later, prompting officers to make a second visit to the suspect’s home.
During the second visit, Nelson intentionally provided officers with false information, which led to his initial arrest for attempting to influence a public official. The girl’s remains were discovered that same night in the defendant’s apartment. A bag of charred human remains was found in a utility closet in the apartment’s courtyard, and bone fragments in ashes were found in the fireplace.
Chris GalloDeputy Chief of the Aurora District Attorney’s Office, stated that “while we were fully prepared to take this case to trial, this agreement protects the family from Maha Li of having to listen to painful, horrible and frightening testimonies.” The District Attorney, John Kellnerstated that the convicted woman knew of available adoption programs that could have taken care of the girl, but that instead “she chose to murder her.”
Kathleen Tierney, Senior Deputy Prosecutor, added that “there are many resources and legal ways for parents to surrender their children if they cannot care for them.” The official stressed that it is “both heartbreaking and outrageous that a mother kills her own daughter and then invents a false adoption story so that the family believes that the girl is alive and well.”
Kellner He added that although it is not possible to fully understand what motivated Nelson to commit the crime, she deserves to spend several decades behind bars for the “unspeakable crime” she committed.
